This invention relates generally to liquid detergents and more particularly to preparations containing selected nonionic surfactants and to the use of the nonionic surfactants for the production of liquid detergents.
In recent years, liquid detergents have acquired a firm market share in the field of detergents because they are particularly easy to dose and have advantages over solid detergents, above all in the low-temperature washing of only lightly soiled laundry. By virtue of their inverse solubility behavior, i.e. a solubility which increases with decreasing temperature, nonionic surfactants, such as ethoxylated fatty alcohols for example, are particularly suitable for the production of liquid detergents. However, the disadvantage of nonionic surfactants is that their solubility behavior is not entirely satisfactory and that they tend to form unwanted gel phases; their wetting power is also inadequate. Efforts have been made to overcome this disadvantage by combining the nonionic surfactants with anionic surface-active compounds. Unfortunately, the effect of this is that, in many cases, washing performance at low temperatures—where anionic surfactants are weak—is no longer satisfactory.
Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present invention was primarily to provide new liquid detergents based on nonionic surfactants which would be distinguished by optimized dissolving behavior and improved wetting properties. Another problem addressed by the invention was to provide preparations which would impart a pleasant softness to the treated textiles, even in the absence of cationic surfactants, and—in combination with polymers—to improve the inhibition of dye transfer in the washing of colored fabrics.